The Territory (Josie Gray Mysteries #1)(86)
“Did you shoot him then?”
“It was his own fault he got shot!”
Kenny leaned forward suddenly and grabbed a cigarette out of the pack, lit it, and inhaled deeply. He pitched the lighter on the table and ran his hand through his hair.
“I knew Pegasus got off work at seven that morning. I was going to surprise her with breakfast when she got home. She didn’t even know I was in town yet.”
“Was your trailer set up behind Red’s place at that point?” Josie asked.
He nodded, worry lines deeply etched into his forehead. “I set up the camper about a mile behind Red’s, where it couldn’t be seen. Nobody went out there. I knew Red was too lazy to walk back there. He was supposed to be so prepared, but I was living behind his house. The bastard didn’t even know it. I walked around the back of Red’s house and saw him sitting at my picnic table. It took me a minute to figure it out. It was a dark morning, overcast. It actually looked like it might rain. I thought he was sitting at the picnic table having breakfast. Maybe taking advantage of the break in the weather. Then I saw him with his camera. She was getting ready for a shower. She had the lights on inside.”
Kenny stopped talking and placed the heels of his hands into his eyes as if to stop the images. Givens frowned and looked at Josie as if the depravity in the world would never cease to amaze him.
“He stood up from the picnic table, held his camera up to his face, twisted that lens, slinking around the trees like some private dick. Not even eight o’clock in the morning! The guy was a sick bastard.”
“He didn’t notice you standing behind him?” Josie asked.
“He was oblivious. I put the gun to the back of his head. He never said a word, just lowered the camera. We stood there in silence and watched her walk into the bathroom and shut the door. She had the windows open, the curtains pulled back. I had to watch my own sister walk in front of the damn window with no clothes on. We watched the door shut and I dropped the gun. I told him what a sick pervert he was.”
Kenny stopped talking and stared at his hands on the table, his eyes suddenly distant with memory.
“I was finally getting it together for us. I had a job lined up in New Orleans. A good one, before this happened.”
He paused again, and then looked at Givens, who told him to finish his statement. No reason for censure at that point.
“I only put the gun to his head to scare him. I wanted to scare him bad, but I didn’t intend to shoot him. That’s the crazy part. But he turned around and faced me! He started telling me she liked it! He said she knew he was standing outside her window. That’s why she kept the curtains open. She walked around naked for him because she liked it!”
He looked at Josie, his expression full of rage and confusion, something other than regret.
“I threw the first punch. He didn’t even bother to punch back—he grabbed for the gun in his front pocket. I saw the handle grip as he reached, and I knew it was him or me, so I brought the gun up and shot. There wasn’t even time to think. It was an instinct, my life or that sick bastard’s.”
“There wasn’t a gun on Red when we found him.”
“I took it with me. It was in the trailer with the rest of the guns.”
“Why did you move the body?” Josie asked.
“I was angry with Pegasus for being so stupid. I wanted to teach her a lesson. Here she was, flaunting around naked in front of windows with no curtains so a pervert like Red could—”
Josie waited a moment for him to finish. When he didn’t, she asked, “So you waited until she fell asleep, and then moved him on her couch to teach her a lesson?”
“She thinks she’s street smart. She talks like she’s been around the block, but here she was, letting this pervert get his porn for free outside her window. She stood there bare assed in front of Red. So, I wanted to teach her a lesson. Look what happens when you leave your door wide open.”
“Does she know you shot Red?”
“I went to tell her what had happened, and found the door unlocked. I’ve told her, padlock it from the inside. I wanted to get her attention, so I got Red’s body over my shoulder and carried him into the trailer. Left him for her to find.”
“Again, does she know you shot Red?”
“She has no idea.”
“Where was she when you brought the body in?”
“The shower.”
Josie wasn’t sure she bought into the time frame. It had to have been a long shower for Kenny to have fought with Red, killed him, and positioned his body, all pretty noisy activities, while Pegasus was conveniently singing in the shower.
“How did the guns fit into this?”
“I didn’t even think about the guns until after it was over. After I left the body, I went back to Red’s house to find the pictures he said he had taken. I wanted them destroyed before the cops got there.” Kenny’s face looked gray as he shook another cigarette out of the pack on the table. “He had hundreds. Some blown up to eight-by-ten size and taped to his dresser mirror.”
“Did you search his house?”
He nodded. “His desk drawers, his bedroom, down in his gun cellar. He had them taped all over the walls down there. It was beyond belief. I found two shoe boxes with pictures. They looked like family pictures, but I didn’t have time to look, so I pulled the pictures off the walls and turned the faucet on to flood the place. I wanted it destroyed.”